Upcoming Courses

Summer 2019: Semester in Housing Futures

It’s not an easy time to be a young person trying to find a foothold in Vancouver, a city of bold contradictions. Home to one of the most expensive real estate markets in North America, the city, like many urban centers around the world, is also the site of an ongoing housing crisis evident in its growing homeless population and its rental vacancy rates that hover near zero. Unaffordable and inaccessible as they can be, cities are also home to numerous people and organizations who have dedicated their working lives to doing what can seem impossible: creating a more equitable city that a broad range of people can call home.

Through an exploration of the human, textured nuances of what makes a place a home, Semester in Housing Futures will dialogue with planners, community advocates, developers and funders to probe what it takes to build cities that better reflect the housing needs of everyday people—particularly those struggling to get by and get started. We will work together to uncover bold, creative responses to what can seem like an unworkable housing crisis, and consider what it takes to build a city worth fighting for.

The goals of the class are largely about uncovering new ways of talking and thinking about difficult, divisive issues, productively learning from each other, and engaging in dialogue through difference.

COURSE INSTRUCTORS

Am Johal is the Director of SFU's Vancity Office of Community Engagement.

Mark Winston is a professor and senior fellow at the Morris J. Wosk Centre for Dialogue.

Jackie Wong is a facilitator, writer, and editor. She works in Vancouver’s social change community to advance public conversations about urban health, race, and equity.

Fall 2019: Semester in Climate Futures

Climate change poses a profound challenge for the future – for individual lives, communities, nation-states and the world. Deep-rooted action is necessary both to reduce the negative impact of human activities on the climate and to adapt to the climate changes we know we will have to live with for generations to come. This Semester in Dialogue will tackle this global issue from many different angles: through the lenses of the physical sciences, economics, business, politics, ethics, psychology and communications.

Class projects will focus on what individuals can do to respond to climate change at the personal and community scale. We will explore how different levels of government address climate policy and how individuals can influence those decisions, by working inside government as a public servant or elected official, or by working from outside through grass-roots or stakeholder organizations. We will also explore the role that markets and the private sector can play in moving the world towards a more sustainable, low carbon future.

Through interactive workshops, dialogues and group projects students will have an opportunity to engage with a wide range of thought leaders who are committed to finding climate change solutions. Students will also explore their own capacities to act, building on their strengths and networks, through coaching, skills-building workshops, and community outreach activities.

COURSE INSTRUCTORS

Michael Small is a Climate Solutions Fellow of the Centre for Dialogue. He co-designed and co-taught the Summer 2018 Semester in Dialogue on Urban Energy Futures. From 2015 – 2018 he was the first Executive Director of the Centre's program called Renewable Cities, which supports cities in the transition towards 100% renewable energy.

Prior to joining SFU, Michael was a senior executive in the Canada's Department of Foreign Affairs and International Trade and he served as a Canadian diplomat for thirty-four years. He was Canada's High Commissioner to Australia from 2010 - 2014, Assistant Deputy Minister for Global Issues from 2006 - 2008, and Ambassador to Cuba from 2000 - 2003. Earlier in his career, he played a leading role in shaping Canada’s human security agenda for Foreign Minister Lloyd Axworthy and as the Co-ordinator for the Canadian delegation to the 1992 Earth Summit in Rio de Janeiro.

Deborah Harford is the Executive Director and co-founder of ACT (the Adaptation to Climate Change Team), based in the Faculty of Environment at SFU. A member of the first cohort of students in SFU’s innovative Undergraduate Semester in Dialogue, she is a lifelong environmentalist, passionate communicator, and thought leader on the emerging concept of low carbon resilience.

Deborah was appointed as a Climate Solutions Fellow at SFU’s Centre for Dialogue in June 2015 and is an Adjunct Professor in SFU’s School of Resource and Environmental Management. She serves on numerous advisory boards, committees and panels, including Environment and Climate Change Canada’s Expert Panel on Climate Adaptation and Resilience Results, and the Council of Canadian Academies Expert Panel on Climate Risks for Canada. A frequent media commentator, Deborah is the author/co-author of numerous reports and articles on climate change adaptation, as well as a book on the history and future of the Columbia River Treaty in a changing climate.

Patricia Lightburn is the Manager of Science and Policy at the David Suzuki Foundation, where she leads the climate policy team to advance climate solutions across Canada. She has over ten years of experience in climate and renewable energy, working for government, industry, and non-government organizations. She has contributed to publications on renewable energy, energy efficiency and district energy, for the Pembina Institute, the International Energy Agency and the United Nations Environment Program. Patricia has her master's degree from Sciences Po, Paris, and completed her undergraduate degree in environmental policy at the University of Toronto.